John Tinker - Free SpeechIn 1965, five students from Des Moines  wore black arm bands to school to protest America's involvement in the  Vietnam War. Those strips of cloth became the subject of a case that  went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Because of those Iowa  students, the right of all American students to express their political  opinions was strengthened.In the 1960s, the United States began sending troops to Southeast  Asia. The nation of Vietnam had been divided into two parts, with North  Vietnam friendly to Communist China on its northern border while South  Vietnam looked to the United States for support. The United States  feared that if communists from North Vietnam took control of South  Vietnam, communism would soon overrun all of Southeast Asia.Some Americans opposed sending American soldiers to Vietnam. In their  opinion, the war cost too many American lives and too much money. In  1965, a group of Des Moines high school and junior high students met at  the home of Christopher Eckhardt to make plans to protest the United  States' participation in the Vietnam War. The students agreed to wear  black armbands the following week to protest the deaths of American  soldiers in the war.Word of the planned protest spread. School principals were afraid  that student protests would disrupt classrooms and school activities.  They passed a ruling prohibiting armbands. They said that any students  wearing them would be sent home and not allowed back to classes until  the armbands were gone.On December 16, five students wore armbands to school despite the  principals' rule. Three of students, Christopher Eckhardt, Christine  Singer and Bruce Clark, were from Roosevelt High School. John Tinker  attended North High School and his sister, Mary Beth, went to Harding  Junior High.Christopher Eckhardt recalled that several students threatened him,  "I wore the black armband over a camel-colored jacket. The captain of  the football team attempted to rip it off. I turned myself in to the  principal's office where the vice principal asked if 'I wanted a busted  nose.' He said seniors wouldn't like the armband." A school counselor  told Christopher that colleges would not accept him if he was a war  protestor and might need to find a new high school if he did not remove  the arm band.When the five students refused to remove the armbands, they were  expelled from school. They returned after Christmas break without the  armbands but wearing all black clothes.The Des Moines School Board met to review the principals' rule. They  supported the ruling because they decided that principals needed the  authority to keep order in the schools. The Vietnam War was becoming a  very emotional issue across the country, and school officials were  afraid that there could be disturbances at school if protest symbols  showed up in class.The case did not end there, however. In March 1966, John Tinker, Mary  Beth Tinker, Chris Eckhardt and their parents filed a formal complaint  in U.S. District Court arguing that the students' rights had been  violated. The District Court dismissed the case, as did a Federal  Appeals Court. The case finally reached all the way to the United States  Supreme Court on Nov. 12, 1968.The First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees the right of all  American citizens to freedom of speech. But does that freedom apply to  high school and middle school students in Des Moines, Iowa? The Supreme  Court said it does! The Supreme Court ruled in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District that students and teachers continue to have the right of free speech  and expression when they are at school. They do not "shed their  constitutional rights at the school house gate," Judge Abe Fortas wrote  in the Court's ruling.Does this mean that school officials do not have the right to  maintain order in the schools or to prevent things that disrupt classes?  No, the Court said. Schools can still restrict students' actions or  expressions when there is enough reason to believe those actions would  disrupt the school or invade the rights of other students. However, just  because an opinion is unpopular or makes other students or teachers  uncomfortable, school officials cannot prevent students from sharing  their views. In the Tinker case, the Court ruled, school officials had  not proved that the students' armbands would significantly disrupt  classroom or school activities.The Tinker case is a very important decision protecting student  rights. Because five Des Moines students were brave enough to stand up  for an unpopular position, all American students enjoy greater freedom  to express their opinions.

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